87 pages 2 hours read

Neil Gaiman

Coraline

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2002

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Chapters 5-7

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary

Coraline locks the door to the other world behind her. She tries to put the keys back where she got them but cannot reach, so she leaves them on the counter. Neither of her parents have returned. By the evening, they are still not back. Coraline has a microwave pizza for dinner and eventually puts herself to bed. In the morning, her parents’ bed is untouched. She eats canned spaghetti for breakfast and baker’s chocolate for lunch. She visits Misses Spink and Forcible, enjoying their beverages and biscuits. She tries to tell them her parents are missing, but they do not seem to acknowledge what she’s said.

Coraline empties her money box and walks to the store for cake, a bag of apples, and limeade, which she eats for dinner. She plays with her father’s computer, takes an overflowing bubble bath, then goes to bed. She wakes around 3 a.m. and goes to her still-empty parents’ bedroom, where she cries. She sleeps in their bed.

The black cat wakes Coraline in the morning. She asks if it knows where her parents are. The cat leads her to a mirror in the hallway. Coraline looks closely and sees her parents trapped in the mirror.